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inheritance

Researchers in the United States and France, supported in part by MDA, have established that mutations in the titin gene are a cause of centronuclear myopathy (CNM), a group of muscle disorders characterized by variable degrees of weakness and cell nuclei that are abnormally located toward the center of muscle fibers rather than around the perimeter.

A team of researchers in the U.S. and Australia has shed new light on sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), finding that some people with the disorder have gene mutations that may be associated with ALS and that do not exist in either of their parents — so-called de novo mutations.

The number of new cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) identified each year (incidence) and the number of people living with the disease (prevalence) appears to be lower in American Indians and Alaska Natives than in white populations.

Further studies are needed to determine the reason for these differences, but researchers suggest that nonwhite populations may have different genetic or environmental risks for ALS.

Decision making about preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a complex, multiphase process for couples, a new study has found. Understanding it, the investigators say, may be helpful to prospective parents who know they're at risk for transmitting a genetic disorder, and to the professionals who advise them.

Respondents to MDA’s Transitions Survey — in other words, people with a neuromuscular disease who are in their teens through late 30s — made it clear they had questions about the genetics of their disease, as well as questions about family planning and the value of diagnostic testing.

Duplications (extra copies) of the SMN1 gene are a "major" risk factor for developing sporadic (noninherited) ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a team of scientists based in the Netherlands and United Kingdom has reported.

Researchers supported in part by MDA are seeking people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) to participate in a study to identify genetic modifiers of the type 1A form of CMT (CMT1A) and determine previously unknown genetic causes of CMT.